I've been in the pawn business for over 20 years and you better believe that I've seen my fair share of unhappy clients. The first time you're faced with an upset customer, it's a lot to take in. Even the most experienced brokers will have their hands full when it comes to a really disgruntled customer who thinks they're in the right. Throughout my history in this business, I've learned a few ways to diffuse a situation and help both the customer and shop owner come out feeling satisfied, reassured, and respected.

There are a number of reasons to sell a pawn business. Perhaps you're ready to retire and you don't have someone to pass it onto, or you're just ready to move on from the industry but don't want to see what you've built shuttered up and vacant. I’ve been in this business for over 30 years, and have been involved in several hundred purchases and sales of pawn stores, both as the purchaser and the seller. There's a lot that goes into the sale of a pawn business, and not all of it has to do with numbers. Preparing your shop for sale is a lot like getting a house ready for a showing. The numbers are just a part of the equation, because the details can really make or break a sale.

2018 saw a lot of milestone events at Data Age, kicking off with our thirtieth anniversary. Being in business for thirty years is no easy feat, as we've seen where so many other business have come and gone, and others that continue to fail. Being able to service our ever-growing customer base while staying ahead of the pack as the industry leader is an accomplishment that we are very proud of. During 2018, our eCommerce and mobile services provided great reach and success for our clients. Our integrated eCommerce platform e4o generated over 10 million dollars in online sales for our clients, and our success fee-free model kept our clients profit margins high, as they should be. This robust product continues to gain rapid success, and new users are adopting it on a weekly basis. Our text messaging platform has lead the way in this industry for a number of years, but recent expansion has helped us define mobility in a much more efficient and safe way. With the addition of TxTPay, text messaging is a product line that's exploding with new ideas and increased revenue opportunities for our customers.

Text messaging is a great service that you can provide to your customers to help keep them up to date on their loans while providing you the ability to alert them to sales and promotions you’re offering in-store. In order to connect with your customers, they have to opt-in to receive your messages. Watch our Text Messaging: Opt-In Best Practices video below to learn how easy it is to opt customers in to your text messaging promotion programs.

We are consistently coming across shops changing their software vendor for a number of reasons, so we feel it's important to provide resources to those who are looking to make a switch. When you're entering into a SaaS agreement for the first time, you may have some questions or concerns. That's normal. According to CIO Review, "The best means of protecting yourself is to carefully read and understand the terms of the contracts with your data vendors. Often these provisions can be negotiated—for example, you can require that your data to be anonymized when it's used by the vendor."

Data Age Business Systems, the developers of PawnMaster pawn management software, are proud to announce that their client base has reached an eCommerce milestone. Using the integrated eCommerce tool e4o, PawnMaster users have listed close to one million items online, with the sales total of items topping out at more than twenty million dollars in revenue. “This is a very exciting time for us,” says Len Summa, CEO of Data Age Business Systems. “We have been analyzing and investing in eCommerce for a long time. We knew the kind of power selling online could bring our customers, and that’s why we integrated it into our industry-leading product. Now our clients can reach customers not just locally, but globally as well. With pawn shop retail sales totaling more than 50% of all income in 2017, listing items online is becoming less of a luxury and more of a necessity.”

In my previous life as a small business owner, this was always the time of year when I was heads down looking to crank out sales. Having a multiple store chain and selling straight retail, the holidays was where I made my mark. At the time, I didn't realize that the entire year leading up to the holiday season we were unconsciously making sure that we went the extra yard for our customers. This is always the correct approach when supplying and supporting a large customer base.

I’ve been working with people in some capacity for 27 years, and I always have been and remain a firm believer in the concept of teamwork. Recently in fact I experienced the power of teamwork firsthand here with our own PawnMaster team. The way they came together was nothing short of spectacular and something I’ve never witnessed before, and it's really galvanized my belief and commitment to the teamwork concept. When you have a great team like we do, you think there’s nothing more they can do that will shock you but man I have to admit, I was wrong in this instance. Let me set the stage for you and share this real-life scenario, which will only reinforce why teamwork is vital to every business.

Time is short and every day matters. Each day is 24 hours that cannot be reclaimed. I believe it is important to take the time to invest in yourself and know where you want to go. Below are a few things I do consistently for my own growth, and believe these are helpful for anyone.